A journalist once asked a (temporarily) famous rock star what his favourite book was. The star replied (expletives deleted) that he had only once read a book, had not enjoyed it, and did not intend to repeat the experience. Ever.

Well, I guess that's it for literature folks!

Seriously though ... one bad concert/singaround/session/CD is not sufficient evidence for condemning an entire musical genre. It's about as logical as saying that all oriental cuisine is rubbish, on the grounds that your first (and only) sample of it from the local take-away wasn't particularly nice.

English folk music has faced many challenges over the past few centuries. Its survival has been threatened by Puritanism, industrialisation, rural depopulation, commercialised popular music, misguided school-teachers, insensitive nostalgia peddlers, ignorant music critics, cynical journalists, clever satirists ... and yes ... not a few inept performers. Nevertheless, it's still here. And if we take as good care of it as our forebears did, it may continue to enrich the lives of future generations.

Wassail!